Participated · Series A · Sep 2022

Pattern Health offers a digital health platform that provides the interoperability, scalability, security and compliance needed to create and distribute digital health programs. The company partners with researchers, clinical innovators and their institutions to develop and implement digital health programs, surveys and clinical tools. Its programs are available for licensing by any healthcare institution, creating a collaborative community between innovators and providers. Pattern Health intends to use the funds from the Series A to expand operations and broaden its business reach. The company powers research across a wide range of conditions at 12 of the top 20 academic medical centers in the US as measured by NIH funding. It is led by CEO and co-founder Ed Barber and is based in Durham, NC. Pattern Health offers a no-code platform that enables researchers and clinicians to build and deploy condition-specific digital health programs, collect data more rapidly, and generate evidence for translation into scalable solutions. The platform is HIPAA compliant and HITRUST certified and supports a range of behavioral science–designed digital interventions to improve motivation and adherence. The company also operates a marketplace to support the full life cycle of a digital health program. Led by CEO and co-founder Ed Barber, Pattern Health plans to use its latest funding to invest in platform and product development, expand integrations and interoperability, and grow sales and marketing. The company expects to make several new hires this year across various positions. Financially, it announced a $1.5M funding round to support these initiatives.

Participated · Series A · Jan 2021

BioAesthetics commercializes NACgraft, a biologically‑derived collagen scaffold shaped as a nipple–areola complex (NAC) that integrates with a patient’s body to regenerate the NAC after breast reconstruction. The product is intended for breast cancer survivors undergoing mastectomy who choose autologous breast reconstruction and want NAC reconstruction as part of their final steps. Patients will be able to select NACgraft(s) based on size and shape preferences. The company announced validation of its clinical manufacturing process and planned a collaborative clinical study at Stanford Medicine expected to begin in early 2021, following 15 patients over 12 months to evaluate healing time and secondary measures such as satisfaction, body image, and sensitivity. BioAesthetics is focused on advancing biomaterials to transform patient outcomes and is a Tulane University spin‑out now located in Research Triangle Park, NC. The company closed a Series A to fund commercialization and clinical development of NACgraft. BioAesthetics is developing an acellular tissue‑engineered graft designed to regenerate the nipple‑areolar complex (NAC) for breast cancer and mastectomy patients who currently rely on prostheses, tattoos, or surgical reconstructions. Founder and CEO Nicholas Pashos, PhD, developed the graft during his doctoral work at Tulane University, and company test grafts show early signs of integration: host cells migrate into the graft within one week and blood vessels and new skin form within three weeks. The graft appears to integrate without the need for immunocompromising antibiotics or steroids used in standard organ transplants and tissue grafts. BioAesthetics closed a financing round led by Hemi Ventures with participation from IndieBio, the New Orleans BioFund, and the New Orleans Startup Fund to accelerate product development. To support growth the company is expanding lab operations to Research Triangle Park while maintaining ties to New Orleans and San Francisco. The company is working closely with reconstructive surgeons to advance development and improve aesthetic and health outcomes for patients.

Participated · Series A · Dec 2020

Aperiomics, founded in 2014 and based in Sterling, Virginia, develops a next‑generation genomic testing platform designed to identify every known pathogen from a single sample. The company quickly launched a COVID-19 test in March. Management says the platform will be made available to more doctors and integrated into the healthcare system as a new gold standard in diagnostic testing. Financially, Aperiomics closed its Series A at $3 million after adding $1.2 million to an initial $1.8 million announced in August 2019. The company has also launched a $1 million bridge note to fund operations until a Series B; the bridge is led by Tamiami Angel Fund IV, which has committed $300,000 and will include executive investments. Series A investors include VentureSouth, Pipeline Angels, Atlanta Technology Angels, The Launch Place and the Central Texas Angel Network. Aperiomics applies Deep Shotgun Metagenomic Sequencing and the Xplore-PATHOSM test to identify every bacterium, virus, fungus and parasite known to modern science. The Xplore-PATHOSM Test combines advanced DNA testing, big data and infectious disease expertise to identify the root cause of infectious diseases. By offering unbiased microbial insight, the company aims to help healthcare providers prescribe more precise treatments. Led by CEO Dr. Crystal Icenhour, Aperiomics recently expanded into a new 4,700 square foot facility in Sterling, Virginia and is constructing an on-site laboratory to be completed and certified in the coming months. The company plans to use new funding to increase the number of patients served and clinicians partnered with, and to make major investments in research and development.